Crabs

Crabs should live much longer than 3 months. What kind of crabs were these and what were the levels like in your tank(pH, Amm, nitrites,nitrates,salinity)? Are you sure that they weren't just molting? I know that Hermit Crabs look quite dead while molting.

kbaker721,

I agree with elmo they should live longer. My emerald crabs lived thru cycling the tank algae blooms and many other newbie mistakes. In fact they are still kicking getting huge. I would also suggest to look at water parameters. Also if you don't feed them after they have cleaned up the tank the will go cannibal on each other for food. Then they start killing snails for food and there shells. Been there too. Good luck

I have had no luck with freshwater or saltwater crabs either. I was under the impression that providing a place for them to get out of the water helps, ?

Most saltwater crabs are fully aquatic, so do not need to get out of the water for survival. Many BW crabs do need to get ot the surface to breath, but these are not fully aquatic crabs. Emerald crabs, sally light foot, hermits, etc do not need to leave the water. With hermits, it can be bad for them--they can get air trapped inside their shells. This keeps them from being stable, and they tend to die. If you do pull hermits out of the water, be sure to rotate them several times under watedr to force the bubbles out.

There are several trace minerals needed for crabs to survive, but most are provided with a quality salt mix. What all is in the tank with the crabs? There are many fish which will make a meal of a crab immediately following it's molt, so plenty of hiding places is a requirement. Also, inverts in general are more sensitive to instabilities like salinity fluctuations and ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. Careful maintenance will improve your odds of keeping inverts.

Also, has the tank ever been medicated with a copper-based med? I assume it hasn't because the crabs lived for a few months, but you never know.

Good to hear.